Crosswalk.com aims to offer the most compelling biblically-based content to Christians on their walk with Jesus. Crosswalk.com is your online destination for all areas of Christian Living – faith, family, fun, and community. Each category is further divided into areas important to you and your Christian faith including Bible study, daily devotions, marriage, parenting, movie reviews, music, news, and more.

Experiencing LIFE Today - November 6, 2017

There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too. — Frederick Buechner

When we step into freedom, there is more opportunity to make poor choices. So what keeps us—we who are free in Christ—from running toward sin?

Let’s be honest. If we are in Christ, sin can’t separate us from God’s love anymore. And consequences? Who has received consequences for every sin they’ve ever committed? No one, right? His grace gives us freedom, and His grace even withholds consequences.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.(Galatians 5:16)

Paul is clear. The trajectory of our life—whether we walk in the Spirit or feed the desires of our flesh—is mapped by a decision. We can choose the Spirit, or we can choose the flesh.

What, exactly, is the difference between the two?

“Flesh” is not our old sin nature—that died with Christ. Instead, “flesh” is anything one has—body, mind, emotions, patterns, heritage, education, etc.—that is outside of the divine resources of the Holy Spirit. When we depend on these “fleshly” resources, we are living independently from God.

Walking in the Spirit, on the other hand, is living dependently upon God to live through us moment by moment in a dynamic, intimate dance.

If we are walking in the Spirit, we aren’t walking in the flesh. The flesh and the Spirit aren’t intended to coexist. And so, there’s a choice to make. So the question takes us back to your salvation: Were you only saved from separation from God? Or were you also saved to life in the Spirit?

Giver of Grace, thank You for the gift of choice. This freedom to choose is so full of grace. Show me this dance of dependence as Your Spirit leads. Amen.

Aging isn’t something to be shunned or simply endured. You can be full of joy and purpose in every season of life. Learn how with Stuart and Jill Briscoe’s book, Improving with Age, as well as Stuart’s companion 6-message DVD series of the same title. These resources are our way to thank you for your gift today.